Guy Penrod — “Yes, I Know” A Night When Faith Became Song
The lights dimmed, but not to darkness — only enough for the hush to ripple across the hall like a tide of expectancy. The stage was set, the musicians waiting, but the room was already alive with something deeper than music. It was reverence, born from years of voices raised in praise.
At the center of the stage stood Guy Penrod, tall and steady, his silver hair brushing his shoulders, the quiet strength of a man who had sung faith into countless lives. For a long moment, he didn’t move. He simply stood, head bowed, as though the weight of every lyric he had ever sung rested on his shoulders. Then, he lifted his gaze and spoke — softly, yet with a conviction that carried to the last seat in the balcony.
“This one… this is the song that carried me through.”
The band gave a single, gentle chord, and then it began.
The opening line of “Yes, I Know” fell from Guy’s lips with the gravity of truth. His voice — deep, unshaken, weathered like old oak — didn’t need theatrics. It was the voice of someone who had lived the words he sang, who had wrestled with trials and stood again only by grace. Slowly, the other members of the Gaither Vocal Band joined him, their harmonies layering upward like cathedral arches.
The rafters seemed to tremble.
All around the room, people rose to their feet. Some lifted their hands heavenward. Others pressed tissues to their eyes. From scattered corners came shouts of “Amen!” and “Thank You, Jesus!” — voices breaking not from formality but from release. It was as though the song itself had unlocked something in the crowd, reminding them that no chain, no burden, no sin was greater than the blood of Christ.
By the time the final chorus came, Guy’s voice was no longer just one among many. It rose above, strong and aching, piercing through every harmony until it felt like a cry straight to heaven:
“Yes, I know! Yes, I know!
Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean…”
Then it was gone.
The sound faded, the last note lingering like a prayer unanswered and yet already fulfilled. Silence fell — not the silence of emptiness, but of awe. For a breathless moment, no one clapped, no one moved. The air itself seemed consecrated.
When the applause finally came, it was not for a performer. It was for a truth.
A Song of Testimony
For decades, “Yes, I Know” has been more than a hymn. Written by Anna Waterman in the late 1800s and brought to new life by voices like the Gaithers, the song has carried generations through nights of fear and mornings of doubt. But when Guy Penrod sings it, something happens. It ceases to be a song about faith and becomes faith itself, clothed in sound.
Guy has often said that the music he loves most is not about charts or applause. It is about souls finding hope. That night, his words proved it: “This is the song that carried me through.” Not because it was perfect musically, but because it had carried him in times when only truth could stand.
Guy’s Journey of Song and Faith
From his years as the long-haired, powerhouse lead of the Gaither Vocal Band, to his solo career singing hymns and gospel standards, Guy Penrod has always been more than a performer. His rugged baritone has echoed across arenas, chapels, and living rooms, but behind it has always been the same testimony: faith is real, and Jesus is faithful.
For fans, songs like “Yes, I Know,” “Because He Lives,” and “Then Came the Morning” are not just memories of concerts. They are markers of their own journeys — funerals where hope was needed, hospital rooms where faith was thin, quiet nights when only a whispered hymn kept the darkness away.
That is what makes moments like this unforgettable. Guy wasn’t simply revisiting a classic. He was bearing witness.
More Than Music
As the audience left that night, the echoes of “Yes, I Know” followed them into the night air. For some, it was nostalgia — a reminder of their childhood church pews and hymnals. For others, it was healing — a lifeline they could hold onto in the middle of grief or sickness.
But for all, it was a testimony.
Because when Guy Penrod sang that song, it wasn’t just artistry. It wasn’t just entertainment. It was a man standing before thousands, declaring the one truth that had carried him through every valley and every mile of the road:
Jesus saves. Jesus heals. Jesus is faithful.
And in that hall, under the trembling rafters and fading lights, faith itself was set free in sound.